Microsoft scraps two-year Xbox contract plans

Ditching Kinect may have saved the Xbox One from falling permanently behind the PS4

For a while, Microsoft experimented with selling its Xbox consoles the same way many mobile carriers sell smartphones: By offering them at a discount in exchange for signing a two-year service agreement for the Xbox Live Gold online subscription service. The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that Microsoft has quietly killed off its two-year Xbox contract plans for the Xbox 360 and has no plans to ever try them out with the Xbox One. Microsoft spokesperson David Dennis told the Journal that “this program was intended to be a pilot experiment from the start, and Microsoft routinely adjusts the mix of offers available to its customers and this change was simply standard business practice.” Under Microsoft’s original scheme, gamers could pay just $99 for an Xbox 360 if they agreed to pay $14.99 per month for an Xbox Live Gold subscription.